Fire Starter and Method for Making and Using the Same

ABSTRACT

A fire-starter device for survival, emergency, or convenience that incorporates a paper cup portion filled with wax with one (1) or more wicks embedded in the hardened wax with tinder material comprising the top layer. The paper cup is designed and built to allow it to hold hot liquid wax without leaking. The wax is paraffin and/or beeswax and/or other blend. The wicks are of jute or similar material. The tinder is made of fatwood shavings or similar combustible.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of Invention

The invention relates to a solid-fuel fire starter. More particularly,it relates to a fire generating source that can be used to igniteflammable material to generate a self-sustaining fire having particularapplication in outdoor, camping, sporting, home fireplace, home firepit, emergency/survival, and military environments.

2. Description of the Related Art

Emergency fire starters are typically included as equipment for manycivilian and military occupations, as well as for recreational outdooruse. In its simplest form, a fire is achieved when the three elementsnecessary for fire—heat, fuel, and oxygen—are minimally present. Asoxygen and fuel sources are readily found in most emergency situations,the remaining necessary element, a heat source, is the chosen carrycomponent for emergency/survival situations. Simply stated, a sustainedsource of flame is used to supply enough heat of adequate duration toindigenous fuel material, (e.g., wood), to allow for a sustainable firethat would then be maintained by adding additional indigenous fuel.

Currently, many fire starters use tinder compositions that allow for aheat source long enough to ignite indigenous fuel sources under optimalconditions. The principal operation of such fire starters is to use anignition source like a match or lighter to initiate the burn of the firestarter for a period of time in order to provide a heat source to allowfor the sustained ignition of indigenous fuels.

For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 2,622,017 issued to Bramhall et al on Dec.16, 1952, discloses a fire kindling device, particularly for use infireplaces, produced from a wax material and having a peripheral wick.Horizontal wick-like layers are also provided to support and separatecolor producing chemicals in separate layers.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,671,330, issued to Ajello on Mar. 9, 1954, discloses acandle, particularly useful as a roadside flare, a heat source forgrilling or cooking, or as a fireplace lighter. Ajello's candle has acylindrical housing filled with candle wax and an inner cylindrical,slowly combustible inner wall to create a broad cylindrical flame.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,327,505 issued to Brown on Jun. 27, 1967, discloses asolid fuel unit, comprising a molten wax poured into a paper container,for use as a portable heat source particularly adapted for protectingplants from frost damage.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,414,365, issued to Cranston on Dec. 3, 1968, discloses asafety kit for sportsmen that includes, among other things, a match andcandle unit. Cranston's candle has a jacket of combustible material.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,721, issued to Campana on Feb. 16, 1993, discloses aself-kindling fuel package for starting charcoal briquettes. Thecombustible container receives fuel, such as a pre-measured charge ofcharcoal briquettes, an igniter, and a wick.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,245 issued to Raddon on Nov. 3, 1998, discloses aportable fuel element made from stacked corrugated cardboard impregnatedwith paraffin wax, and preferably, having at least one match containedtherein. Raddon's fuel blocks also include a wick for lighting the fuelblock.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,858,036, issued to Chandaria on Jan. 12, 1999, disclosesan artificial fireplace log formed of compressed particulate and abinder. Chandaria's fireplace log is stored in a flammable wrapper thatserves as a wick for lighting the artificial fireplace log.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,958,090 issued to Chandaria on Sep. 28, 1999, disclosesa fire starter that is an extruded mixture of paraffin wax and sawdust.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,769 issued to Thompson on Oct. 19, 1999, discloses aportable, contained, fueled ready to use campfire assembly. The fireresistant container disclosed by Thompson contains a mixture of mineralspirits, paraffin wax, and hardwood chips. The fire resistant containerincludes a lid for extinguishing the fire contained therein.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,136,053 issued to Sullivan on Oct. 24, 2000, disclosesan ignitable fire starting system that includes a rolled up strip ofcloth soaked in a liquid fuel having a plurality of matches rolled inthe cloth as well. Sullivan discloses that melted paraffin wax can bethe liquid fuel.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,755,877, issued to Perlman on Jun. 29, 2004, discloses acombustible fire starting assembly that includes a combustible liquid,free burning, alcohol-based fuel contained within a combustiblethermoplastic container.

U.S. Pat. No. 8,216,322 issued to Schweickhardt on Jul. 10, 2012,discloses a solid fuel fire starter having a wicking element constructedfrom corrugated cardboard with an exposed end for ignition in which thecorrugated cardboard is molded with a paraffin wax. The wax moldedcorrugated cardboard is contained within a non-combustible housing.

U.S. Pat. No. 8,365,907, issued to Mooney et al on Feb. 5, 2013,discloses a survival package that includes, among other things, a waxfire starter with a combustible tube to be used for fire making.

U.S. Pat. No. 8,439,668, issued to Ambroggio on May 14, 2013, disclosesa container for holding a combustible, such as a candle, that includesan extinguishing substance adapted to extinguish the candle if apredefined temperature is exceeded. Finally, published U.S. PatentApplication No. 2005/0005508 filed by Hayden and published on Jan. 13,2005, discloses a fire starter made from strips of pressed woodfiberboard dipped in a paraffin solution.

Even in state-of-the-art fire starters, however, quite often theheat/time ratio is insufficient to allow indigenous fuels to reachself-sustained burn phase. In ideal fire conditions, any number ofsimple methods may work to build a self-sustained fire. In practicaloutdoor applications—especially in survival situations—indigenous fuelsare typically not in a condition to allow for crossover from assistedignition from the fire starter to a self-sustained burn; this is due tosize and moisture content of the readily available indigenous fuels.Moreover, environmental conditions must also be considered. In thewindy/rainy conditions that are often found in a survival setting,generating enough heat to achieve crossover to a self-sustained burnbecomes virtually impossible using known standard fire-starters. Inthese state-of-the-art fire-starting devices, the heat/time ratio issimply insufficient to be relied upon to satisfactorily perform in therange of conditions to be expected in the field. Hence, in the knownprior art fire-starters, it is often necessary for the user to seek fromthe environment, indigenous fuel that is dry, small, and of enoughquantity to allow crossover to self-sustained burn for the predominantlyavailable fuel, whatever its size and moisture content. Eliminating thisneed to procure dry tinder in adequate supply to produce a fire thatreaches the self-sustain phase is a challenge many products attempt toaddress; however, nothing suitable has yet been proposed and developed.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a firestarter that is simple in design and usage, compact, reliable, andovercomes the drawbacks of conventional fire starters, as describedabove. That objective includes eliminating the need to procure adequatesupplies of dry timber, under survival conditions, to succeed. A furtherobject is to provide a fire starter survival tool that is compact andsimple and does not require special additional materials, yet canreliably achieve a self-sustaining fire using only indigenous fuelsunder most outdoor conditions—notably, in a survival situation in whichthe ability to start a fire is crucial to sustain life.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, and as will be describedin greater detail below, a cup-based fire starter is comprised of apaper cup of a selected shape and size adapted to hold hot liquid waxwithout leaking. The fire starter of the present invention furtherincludes at least one wick and dry tender material carried at the topsurface of the hardened wax. In practice, lighting the wicks and surfacetinder on the cup allows the hardened wax inside to quickly complete itsfirst phase transition, when the solid wax transitions to the liquidstate in the cup. The wicks and surface tinder continue to heat the wax,approaching the second transition from the liquid phase to the vaporphase and combustion. The fire starter kit of the present inventionproduces a flame between 12-18″ high that will consistently burn withintensity for 12-15 minutes. This size flame, supported by surfacetinder allows indigenous fuel, gathered under most outdoor/survivalconditions, to ignite and support a self-sustaining fire.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The above-mentioned features of the invention will become more clearlyunderstood from the following detailed description of the invention readtogether with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the firestarter kit of the present invention;

FIG. 1B is a perspective view of another exemplary embodiment of thefire starter kit of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the exemplary embodiment of the firestarter kit illustrated in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the exemplary embodiment of the firestarter kit illustrated in FIG. 1 in which the wicks have been lit andthe fire starter kit is fully lit and burning.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIGS. 1-3 illustrate a fire starter kit constructed in accordance withone aspect of the present invention, and as will be described in greaterdetail below, includes a cup-based fire starter comprised of a paper cupof a selected shape and size adapted to hold hot liquid wax withoutleaking, at least one wick for igniting the fire starter kit, andpre-packaged tinder material to serve as kindling. In the exemplaryembodiments, the cup is fabricated of paper. It will be understood thatas used herein, the term paper refers to a thin sheet of materialproduced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulpderived from wood, rags, or grasses, and drying them into flexiblesheets, and excludes thermoplastic materials.

Adapting the cup not to leak molten wax during operation is an importantfeature due to the phase transitions that the hardened wax within thecup will undergo in the course of normal operation. Phase transition orphase change is the transformation of a thermodynamic system from onephase or state of matter to another. A solid changing to a liquid, or aliquid achieving a boiling/vapor point, illustrates this principle. Forthe purposes of the present invention, the phase transition for wax isimportant. Wax (paraffin cited, but the principle applies for all waxes)transitions from a solid to a liquid between 115-154 degrees F.; this isthe melting point of wax. The next transition for paraffin wax is from aliquid to a gas, at 248-370 degrees F.; this is paraffin wax'sboiling/vapor point. It is equally important to understand the physicalcharacteristics of paper as these two elements of the design haveoverlapping properties that together allow this device to function.Paper burns at between 424-475 degrees F. and also conducts heat muchmore readily than other products, say plastic or Styrofoam. At standardatmospheric pressure, a liquid cannot exceed the boiling point until allthe liquid has vaporized. Thus, at standard atmospheric pressure, waxcannot exceed 248-370 degrees F. until all the liquid wax is vaporized.Because this temperature is below the burning-point for paper, 424-475degrees F., and because paper is able to conduct heat, the paper cupwill remain intact even though it is on fire. This is because the meltedand vaporizing wax inside the cup controls the temperature at its phasetransition point, which is far below paper's ignition, or burntemperature. In other words, the paper cup will sustain the flamewithout being consumed as long as liquid wax remains that is beingtransitioned from its liquid phase to its vapor state. This phenomenon,as will be understood by those skilled in the art, is what allows acandle's wick to support the flame without being consumed.

With reference to the FIGS. 1-3, the fire starter kit 10, adapted foruse as a survival tool, is shown. Here, the fire starter kit 10 includesa cup 20 having an open top 25 and a closed base 27 and at least onewall member 28 extending upwardly from the base 27. The paper cup 20 inFIG. 1A is depicted as having a substantially rectangular, or square,horizontal cross-section and is approximately 2″×2″×1″. The presentinvention is not in any manner deemed to be limited to this shape ordimension. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1B, the paper cup 20′ isdepicted as having an inverted frusto-conical shape having asubstantially circular horizontal cross-section. The wax 30 is filledslightly below the open top 25 of the cup 20; this allows for a degreeof self-leveling in the field, if needed. In this depiction, four (4)large wicks 40 and a secondary fuel adapted to have a slower burn ratethan the wax fuel are provided within cup 20. In the exemplaryembodiment, the secondary fuel is defined by the starter tinder 50,which in an exemplary embodiment is defined by fatwood shavings. In theexemplary embodiment, the secondary fuel layer is supported by, andrests on top of, the solid wax layer 30. It will be appreciated that inthe exemplary embodiment, the fire starter kit 10 is enclosed with asuitable lid or cover (not shown) for enclosing the secondary fuel layerprior to use. While the present invention can be utilized with a singlewick, it will be appreciated that having multiple wicks greatly reducesthe time to create a large pool of molten, liquid wax 60 at, or near,the top of the fire starter 10. Those skilled in the art will recognizethat other materials could be used as the starter tinder 50. In use, apreferred ignition source, for example a match, lighter, or flint andsteel variation, is applied to wick(s) 40, or alternately the startertinder 50, and the unit is allowed to burn for approximately one minute,after which indigenous fuel is stacked around and over the invention inaccordance with standard fire building procedures.

In practice, lighting the wicks 40 and surface tinder 50 on the cup 20allows the hardened wax 30 inside to quickly complete its first phasetransition, in which the solid wax 30 transitions to liquid and a layerof molten wax 60 forms in the cup 20. The wicks 40 and surface tinder 50continue to heat the molten wax 60, approaching the second phase change.The tinder 50 provides additional surface area for maintaining molten inthe heat of the flame long enough to vaporize and combust. Vaporized waxis highly flammable and a fire starter constructed in accordance withthe present general invention, holding approximately 2 oz. of paraffinwax, will produce a flame 70 between 12-18″ high that will consistentlyburn with intensity for 12-15 minutes. This size flame, supported bysurface tinder 50 which supports sustained burning of the vaporized waxfuel without itself being consumed, allows indigenous fuel, gatheredunder most outdoor/survival conditions, to ignite and support aself-sustaining fire. And, by using a paper, or otherwise combustible,material for the cup 20, the cup 20 and the tinder 50 will be consumedby the flame after the wax fuel has been completely consumed, thuseliminating the need to retrieve and dispose of the non-combustiblecontainer of certain prior art devices. Further, the fire starter kitaccording to various embodiments of the present general inventionprovides a fire starter that is simple in design and usage, compact,reliable, and overcomes the drawbacks of conventional fire starters, asdescribed above. That objective includes eliminating the need to procureadequate supplies of dry timber, under survival conditions, to succeedin building a self-sustaining fire.

While the present invention has been illustrated by description ofseveral embodiments and while the illustrative embodiments have beendescribed in detail, it is not the intention of the applicant torestrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to suchdetail. Additional modifications will readily appear to those skilled inthe art. The invention in its broader aspects is therefore not limitedto the specific details, representative apparatus and methods, andillustrative examples shown and described. Accordingly, departures maybe made from such details without departing from the spirit or scope ofapplicant's general inventive concept.

Having thus described the aforementioned invention, what is claimed is:1. A fire starter kit for use as a survival tool, said fire starter kitcomprising a cup member, said cup member having a base member, at leastone wall member extending upwardly from said base member, and an opentop, wherein said cup member is fabricated from a combustible materialand is adapted to contain molten wax without leaking; a selected amountof wax fuel received within said cup member; at least one wick memberextending into said selected amount of wax fuel; and a secondary fuellayer received by the cup member such that said secondary fuel layer ison top of said selected amount of wax fuel, whereby said secondary fuellayer has a slower burn rate than said wax fuel.
 2. The fire starter kitof claim 1 wherein said cup member has a substantially rectangularhorizontal cross-section.
 3. The fire starter kit of claim 2 whereinsaid cup member has a substantially square horizontal cross-section. 4.The fire starter kit of claim 1 wherein said cup member has asubstantially circular horizontal cross-section.
 5. The fire starter kitof claim 1 wherein said wax fuel is paraffin wax.
 6. The fire starterkit of claim 1 wherein said secondary fuel layer is comprised of woodtinder.
 7. The fire starter kit of claim 1 wherein said fire starter kitcomprises four wick members extending into said selected amount of waxfuel.
 8. The fire starter kit of claim 1 wherein said cup member isfabricated from paper.
 9. A fire starter kit for use as a survival tool,said fire starter kit comprising a cup member, said cup member having abase member, at least one wall member extending upwardly from said basemember, and an open top, wherein said cup member is fabricated from acombustible material and is adapted to contain molten wax withoutleaking; a selected amount of paraffin wax fuel received within said cupmember; a plurality of wick members extending into said selected amountof wax fuel; and a secondary fuel layer received by the cup member suchthat said secondary fuel layer is on top of said selected amount of waxfuel, whereby said secondary fuel layer has a slower burn rate than saidwax fuel.
 10. The fire starter kit of claim 9 wherein said cup memberhas a substantially rectangular horizontal cross-section.
 11. The firestarter kit of claim 10 wherein said cup member has a substantiallysquare horizontal cross-section.
 12. The fire starter kit of claim 9wherein said cup member has a substantially circular horizontalcross-section.
 13. The fire starter kit of claim 9 wherein saidsecondary fuel layer is comprised of wood tinder.
 14. The fire starterkit of claim 9 wherein said fire starter kit comprises four wick membersextending into said selected amount of wax fuel.
 15. A fire starter kitfor use as a survival tool, said fire starter kit comprising a cupmember, said cup member having a base member, at least one wall memberextending upwardly from said base member, and an open top, wherein saidcup member is fabricated from a combustible paper material and isadapted to contain molten wax without leaking, wherein said cup memberhas a substantially rectangular horizontal cross-section; a selectedamount of paraffin wax fuel received within said cup member; a pluralityof wick members extending into said selected amount of wax fuel; and asecondary fuel layer received by the cup member such that said secondaryfuel layer is on top of said selected amount of wax fuel, whereby saidsecondary fuel layer has a slower burn rate than said wax fuel, whereinsaid secondary fuel layer is defined by wood tinder.
 16. The firestarter kit of claim 15 wherein said cup member has a substantiallysquare horizontal cross-section.
 17. The fire starter kit of claim 15wherein said wood tinder is fat wood.
 18. The fire starter kit of claim15 wherein said fire starter kit comprises four wick members extendinginto said selected amount of wax fuel.